Regenerator.



E. E. SLICK.

REGENERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED 1uNE23. 1916.

1,247,020. Patented NOV..20, 1917.

INVENTOR ATTORNE Y Enwm n. sLIox, or vvirrxsfrluoirr. BOROUGH, PEN-msnm REGENERATOB.

' 'Learned' shecincaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov.` 20, 1917 Application led June 23, 1916. Serial No. 105,347.

To all whom it may concern.' Y

Be it known that I, EDWIN E. SLIGK, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Westmont, in the county of Cambria and State of Pennsylvania, (whose post-oflice address is Johnstown, Pennsylvania,) have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Regenerators; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and vexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to makevand use the same. 4

My invention relates to regenerators kwhich are adapted to conserve the heat and add to the temperature of furnaces, and

, grecs, or more,

particularly those which operate at high heats. I

The arrangement and construction of my `regenerators is of the type known as single surface regenerators, the' outgoing ases 1s applied to and absorbed by the l eckers, walls, etc., and given back to the inco gases from the same surfaces of the chec ers, walls, etc., which received the heat.

My apparatus relates to regenerators as above described and not to heat recuperators, which recuperators depend upon the heat transferred vor conducted through the materials-of which they are composed, the heat being applied to, one sideof the mate' rials and transmitted through-them to the other side whereby the gases are heated.

y In order to simplify the description of my invention, I will describe and illustrate it in connection with open hearth steel melting furnaces, but it is, of course, equally applicable to heating :furnaces of any and all characters for the purpose of conserving the heated in. a similar manner by .passing I through 'a regenerator or with oxygen, r which the products of combustion issue from the furnace hearth and pass through other similar regenerators in order to give to them the heat remaining in said products of combustion which heat is utilized, on the reversal of the currents in the furnace, for heat- 4ing the air and combustible gases of the reversed currents. As, however, producer which for the purposes of explanation here-x in which the heat of gas, when going into its regenerator, has, under -the vcondition stated, a temperature in will .be said to be about 1200 degrees Fahrenheit, this gas makes the coolest part of the regenerator checkers, or that part remote from the furnace, of a temperature about equal to that of the gas, or slightly less than 1200 degrees. AS, according to the old practice', gas checkers have a .minimum temperature of 1200 degrees, or higher, owingto the previous iniux of hot gas, they cannot, of course, abstract heat fromthe gaseous products of combustion to an extent such as to make these gases of combustion pass to the stack or atmosphere at any less temperature than the said 1200 degrees, vor thereabout, with the result that in such a ca'se the combustion gases escape' to the atmosphere at very high temperatures and carry with them large and valuable amounts of; heat.

It is the purpose of my invention to conserve this heat which would otherwise be wasted and I accomplish thisas follows A furnace provided with the usual pairs of Y air and gas regenerators isA also 'provided heat and particularly for furnaces that are this character is passed through a regenerator which has been previously heated, itbe- Fahrenheit.l When gas ofcomes highly heated and combines in the Y furnace with air which has been previously with a palr of auxiliary regenerators, one in connection with each pair of mainI regenerators, soconstructed that said auxiliary regenerator and its contained checkers is heated by the outgoing gases or products of combustion, which, after passing through the ordinary regenerators, pass through the said auxiliary regenerator. When the currents of gases are reversed in the furnace,

vthe auxillary regenerator, which has been previously heated by the products of combustion, is supplied'with air, which is at or about atmospheric temperature,.which air is introduced at substantially the same location as that of the introduction' of the previously heated products of combustion and\ iows through the rst portion of my aux'- iliary regenerator in the same direction. The air then travels through another portion of the auxiliary regeneratorwhich, howvever, is an extension of thel usual air rein a direction opposite to'that generator,

travel ofthe products ot of the previous heating of the air and 4thence it issues into the usual air regenerator where it is finally heated prior to rits emergence Jfrom vthe air ports to meet the gases for combustion. Fart ofthe auxiliary regenerater is heated by the outgoing gases which'issue from the air regenerator and another por.-

tion of the auxiliary regenerator is heated by the combustion ot gases which pass out of the gas regenerator. 'lhe auxiliary regenerators are used only for heating air, on the reversal of the currents, for the reason that the incoming air is cooler than the gas and needs more heat and said air also cools the auxiliary regenerator to make it recepf tive to further heat exchange upon the next reversal, whereas the' producer gas is delivered tothe furnace at such a heat as notA to need this auxiliary regeneration. 'llhe incoming gas at a temperature. of about 1200 degrees Fahrenheit, should not -be introduced into a tirst or auxiliary regenerator, as on reversal the heat of combustion gases equal yto its heat, viz: 1200 degrees or more, would be lost. l may construct my auxiliary regenerator with the usual llingof silica, clay or, other brick stacked crosswise ot each other-to allow numerous passages for the How of gases and of mass sucient to absorb the heat from the products of combustion and return it to the air after reversal. may, hbwever, make my checkers of cast iron or steel which have a much higher conductivity than bricks, and which metals receive and give oli' heat speed.

Having thus given a general description of my invention, ll will now, in order to make the matter more clear, reifer to the annexed sheet of drawings in which like characters refer to like parts.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the upper portionv of an open hearth furnace adapted to embody my invention, this view being taken on the linelle-li of Fig. 3; Fig. 2 is a sectional plan of my construction taken through the regenerators,

showing the producer gas pipe in plan; Flg,

3 is a transverse sectional elevation taken on I theline lll-lll of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 isa vertical cross sectional elevation of one of the gas admission valves; and Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional elevation of one of the air inlet valves. Figs; 1, 4 and 5 are drawn on a somewhat larger scale than Figs. 2 and 3. .60

. Although the furnace is substantially symmetrical about its transverse center line,

the parts on opposite sides thereof have been "given diterent numbers for clearness et description, particularly when referring to the dow et gases..

with greater ease andv naeaoao ence on the drawings, the body or superstructure of the furnace generally, is indicated as 1, the hearth as 2 and the roof as 3.

Referring now to the portion of the furnace on the left hand side of the drawing, the air entering port is 4, the gas entering port is 5, the upwardly 'extending Hue connecting the air regenerator with the air port is 6, the upwardly extending flue connecting the gas regenerator with the gasy port is 7, the slag pocket connected with the gas port is 8,'the main air regenerator is 9, -the main gas regenerator is 10i The various ortions of my auxiliary regenerator are esignated as 11, 12 and 13 respecticvely, these portions 11, 12 and 13 representing the portions or sections of one of the auxiliary regenerators, the arrangement and construction of which is such that the products of combustion or the air to be heated always ass in the same direction through the sectlons 11 and 12, while the air to be heated by the section 13 passes in a reverse direction from that of the products i of combustionfthe as entering valve is 14,

ling valve or damper is 17, and the slag pocket connected with the air Hues is 33.

'Referring now to the Similar portions' oi the construction on the right hand side of the drawing, the air entering port is 18, the gas entering port is 19, the upwardly extending ue connecting the air regenerator with the air port is 20, the upwardly extending tlue connecting the gas regenerator with the gas port is 21, the slag pocket connected with the gas ilues is 22, the slag pocket connected withthe air flues is 32, the main gas regenerator is 23, the main air regenerator is 24, the various portions of my auxiliary regenerator are 25, 26 and 27 respectively, these portions 25, 26 and 27 representing the portions or sections of one of the auxiliary regenerators, the arrangement and construction of which is such that the products of combustion or the air to be eated always pass in the same direction through the sections 25 and 26, while the air to be heated by the section 27 passes in a reverse directionY from that of the roducts of combustion, the gas inlet valve 1s 28, the air inlet valve is 29, a controlling y refractory regenerators, I may prefer to fill these with which is provided with a mushroom valve .i 36 and an operating rod 37 by which it" may be raised or lowered and an air intake pipe 38, which pipe may either be connected directly to the atmosphere or to a suitable source of air under pressure from a fan blower or other apparatus, not shown. lroducer gas, or other combustible gas, is suppliedto these valves by means of the branch pipes 41, which in turn are supplied by the main gas pipe 40 which is con.- nected to gas producers or other sources of gas or similar combustibles. 39 represents the stack which may be of any helght desired to -give the necessary draft, or if the heat of the nal roducts of combustion after passing throug my auxiliary regenerators, is so low that the stack draft would not operate, I may provide an exhaust-,fan or other apparatus to discharge the pr0ducts of combustion into the stack and thus maintain the necessary a The main regenerators Nos. 9, 10, 23. and 24 may be vfilled with a cellular structure, composed of clay brick, .silica brick or other materials, as these and. their upper portions. particularly are subjected to the very high heat of the escaping gases of combustion; and Imay also ll the various portions Vof my auxiliary re enerators 1l, 12, 13, 25, 26 and'27 with s' ar bricks; but as the temperaturesy in these auxiliary regenerators are very much less than in the main metal checkers com osed of any suitable metal` such 'as cast 1ron, speci-al cast iron adapted to withstand heat and oxidation, steel of various qualities, or in fact any othermetal, as metals have a greater capacity for receiving and giving oif heat thanbricks. The checker work of these regenerators may be laid up loosely in various manners, in order to provide the ,cellular 'structure and of mass and quantity suffcient to receive and give up heatv as reuired. 'I rovide openings between` the c eckers to crm passages for-the incoming air and gas and the outgoing products of combustion.

As illustrated in the drawings, I prefer to introduce the incoming vair and gases into the bottoms of the regenerators so that the heating and cooling effects take place more readil but this may be arranged otherwise,

'- if desata.,

My arrangement of regenerators, auxiliary'r'egenerators, the valves and dampers therefor, andthe manner and direction of ow therethrough, conduce to simplicity, compactness, ease and economy of construction and operation.

-' The various portions of my auxiliary regenerator are provided with spaces between the same, as illustrated on the drawings to provide easy access for the purpose of cleaning and'repairing.

Havmg thus given a description of my invention, will now describe its operation. Assummg now that the gases travel through the furnace from left to right, the

gas valve 14 is open, the air valve 15 is also open, the stop valve 16 is closed and in its downwardposltion, the stop valve 17 is also closed 1n lts downward position, the stop valves 3U and 3l are up in their open positions, the gas valve 28 is down in its closed polsltlon and the air inlet valve 29 is down in its closed position, whereupon the flow of the gases .is as indicated by 1 the arrows. It will thus be seen that the air at atmospheric temperature which enters the air inlet valve 15 is first heated by passage through the auxiliary regenerator 1 1, 12 and. 13, the direction of the flow of the air in the portions 11 and 12 being in the same direction as that of the products of combustion which previously passed through this portion of the auxiliary regenerator and heated it. The air continues through the portions 12 and 13 of heated. and. passes thence into the main air regenerator 9, where it is finally heated and the auxiliary regenerator where it is further I takes place within the furnace.. The prod,

ucts of -combustion pass outv through the other end of the furnace through the ports 18 and 19, downwardly through the flues 20 and 21, through the slag pockets 22 and 32,

a part going through the s regenerator 23 and a part through the alr regenerator 24, giving up a large portion of heatto said regerferators, and then pass out through the portions 25, 26 and 27 of the-auxiliary regenerator in the directions indicated by the arrows, whereby the. gaseous products of combustion yield a further portion of their -heat tothe auxiliary regenerator in such a way that as they c ool down they leave the heat in these auxiliary regenerators which would otherwise be wasted. The thoroughly cooled gases of combustion now pass through the valve 31 and into the lstack 39 where they escape into thev atmosphere. During this operation, gas is supplled through the main pipe 40 and through branch plpe 41 to the gas valve' 14, and air is supplied to the air valve 15 through the pipe 38, which, as

before stated, is connected with the atmosphere or with a source oflair under pressure. After the furnaceA is operated in the manner described for the proper or desired a length of time, the valves which were closed are now opened, and those which were opened are now closed, whereupon a reversal of currents takes place and the gases flow through the furnace from right to left and in directions opposite to the arrows on the drawings, except in the portions 25 and 26 of the auxiliary regenerator, in which portions the heating gases, and on reversal the air to be heated, flow `in the same direction as indicated by the arrows, in the same manner previously described in connection with the portions 11 and 12 of the other auxiliary regenerator.

rllhe main air regenerator 9 and the di.

rectly connected regenerator 13 may be considered as one regenerator, as both of these are reversing regenerators, placed end to end and through which the combustion gases pass in one direction and the incoming air in the other direction. The gas regenerator 10, however, and the directly connected auxiliary regenerator 11 and 12 cannot be so considered, for the reason that they do not act together in the manner just` described, but the auxiliary regenerator 11 and 12 is cut olf from the gas regenerator upon reversal of the currents in the other portions and is then used for heating the air, the portions 11 and 12v of the auxiliary regenerator not being reversed, and this is similarly true of the companion portions on the other side, namely z-25 and 26.

Although ll haveshown and described my improvements in considerable detail, I do not wish to be limited to the exact and specific details shown and described, but may use such substitutions, modifications y or equivalents thereof, as are embraced within the scope of my invention, or as pointed out in the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what 1 claim and desire to secure byl Letters Patent is l. In a regenerative furnace, an air and a gas reversing regenerator connected to each end thereof, a sectional auxiliary regenerator connected to each of the pairs'of said reversing regenerators, means for passing air through portions of said auxiliary regenerator in the same direction as the products of combustion and through other portions in a reverse direction into its connecting main air regenerator, substantially as described.

2. ln a regenerative furnace, a pair of reversing regenerators connected with each end of said furnace, a sectional auxiliary regenerator connected with each of said pairs of regenerators, means for passing te incoming air through portions of said auxilnarrata@ iary regenerator in the same direction and tions of said auxiliary 'regenerator in the same direction as the products of combustion and through other pertions of the same in the reverse direction, thence into its con-- necting main air regenerator.

4. In a regenerative furnace, a reversing air regenerator and a reversing gas regenerator, each connected with each end thereof, a sectional auxiliary regenerator be connected with each pair of reversing gas and air regenerators, means for passing vair through vone portion of said auxiliary regenerator in the same direction as that previously taken by the products of combustion and through other portions in the same direction into its connecting lair regenerator, said auxiliary regenerator being provided with metal checkers.

5. rlhe method ofl operating a regeneraadapted to sol tive gas furnace which consists in preheating the airuby successive passagethrough a series of regene'rators in the same vand reverse directions to the previous flow of the combustion gases therethrough, and heating the combustible gases by flow through a single reversing regenerator and passing the products of combustion through air and gas regenerators and an auxiliary regenerator at the other end of the furnace.l 6. The method of operating a' regenerative gas furnace which consists in preheating the air by successive'passage through a' series of lregenerators in ther same and 1n rev verse direction to the previous flow'of the combustion gases therethrough, heating the combustible gases by flow through a reversing regenerator in a direction opposite to the previous flow of combustion gases therethrough,'passing the products of combustion through the air and gas regenerators, and through an auxiliary regenerator, and then reversing the direction of flow of the gases except in a portion of the auxiliary regenerator.

7. In a regenerative furnace a pair of reversing regenerators for air and gas, and an `auxiliary regenerator, art of .which is non-reversing and adapte to be heated by the products of combustion, and means for passing combustion air through said non- ,reversing portion thence through the reversing air regenerator.

' 8. In a regenerative furnace, a pair of reversing regenerators for air and gas connecting With one end thereof, said air regenerator being also connected with a reversing portion of an auxiliary regenerator, and said gas regenerator being connected with a nonreversingportion of said auxiliary regenerator, and means Afor `passing incoming air through the nonreversing portion of the auxiliary regenerator, and thence through the reversing portion of said auxiliary air regenerator and thence into the 'air regenerator aforesaid.

9. In a regenerative furnace, pairs of reversing regenerators for gas and Vair connected to opposite ends thereof, an'auxiliary regenerator .interposed between each Vpair und the stack and having branches connected to each regenerator ofthe pair, means for cutting off one branch Lfrom its corresponding regenerator and for supplying air to said branch, and means for cutting4 off eah auxiliary regenerator from the stack.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

EDWIN E. SLICK. 

